Omnibus Law Will Create a Maternal Mental Health Task Force

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 23: U.S. Capitol Police officers stand at the base of the steps to the House Chambers as the House votes on a $1.7 trillion spending package on December 23, 2022 in Washington, DC. The House of Representatives voted to pass the spending bill that will fund the government through 2023. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The end-of-year omnibus spending package includes the creation of a maternal mental health task force to support new mothers and their families.

The law instructs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to create the task force to identify, evaluate, and recommend ways to improve federal maternal mental health programs.

The task force will include representatives from several federal agencies: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), among others.

The task force will also include non-federal members such as specialists with maternity or mental health expertise, nonprofit organizations with professionals trained in maternal mental health, and other relevant medical personnel.

“Here in the U.S., maternal health and mental health, as separate issues, are finally getting the attention that they deserve,” Joy Burkhard, executive director of the 2020 Mom organization, told The Epoch Times in a phone interview.

President Joe Biden signed the $1.65 trillion omnibus bill on Dec. 29 at a beachfront villa in St. Croix.

Burkhard’s group supports new mothers dealing with maternal mental disorders such as postpartum depression.

While the omnibus bill does not provide a specific amount of funding for the task force, a press release from the Committee of Appropriations (pdf) indicates that the omnibus spending bill includes $324 million for the HRSA, CDC, and NIH for the initiative aimed at improving maternal health and reducing the high maternal mortality rate.

CDC will receive $108 million, a $25 million increase over the prior fiscal year, for programs related to safe motherhood and infant health.

The State Maternal Health Innovation Grant will receive $55 million, a $26 million increase compared to last fiscal year, to increase maternal and postpartum care services.

A new program called Integrating Services for Pregnant and Postpartum Women will get $10 million. Another $10 million will go towards developing a research network for “Minority-Serving Institutions,” according to the appropriations committee.

The law directs the task force to report to state governors with the goal of creating collaborations with the federal government.

“This forces an interdepartmental task force to come up with solutions to how we coordinate with the states and improve on where we are on maternal health,” Rep. Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.) told The Epoch Times.

Expectant Mothers

“We believe that the OB-GYN and the obstetrician, which could also include the midwife, whoever’s delivering the baby and responsible for the mother’s care surrounding the pregnancy, should be detecting disorders,” Burkhard said.

Often, new mothers are passed from one doctor to another, Burkhard continued, adding that there should be medical accountability to support mothers accessing screening care.

“Right now, the standard of care involves a questionnaire,”Burkhard said, where the mother is asked about her mood and similar details. But, she noted noted, that might not be enough.

Cindy Herrick and her one-month-old son in Arizona, 2012. (Courtesy of Cindy Herrick)

Cindy Herrick, a mother from Arizona, said she struggled with depression and anxiety before having her son in 2012. Herrick’s doctor told her to stop taking depression medication, she said, which worsened the condition. She developed postpartum depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), defined as unwanted and recurrent anxious thoughts, among other things, such as worrying for her infant and lack of sleep.

“Even my psychiatrist wasn’t experienced in dealing with pregnant women or postpartum depression,” Herrick told The Epoch Times.

“Screening alone does not help if there isn’t a referral to treatment,” Herrick said, continuing, “there is a shortage of providers who are trained specifically in this [postpartum depression], or they’re not comfortable enough to treat it or know who to refer to.”

“They say you can always see how a mom is struggling in her eyes,” she said.

Herrick recalled the three years after the birth of her son as the most challenging. The first year she struggled due to her change in medication and lack of sleep; in the second year, she dealt with the side effects of the drugs; and in the third year, she struggled with severe OCD.

After that, Herrick said she joined the 2020 Mom organization and began to heal. She is currently the strategic partnership and project lead for the company.

During her difficult recovery from postpartum depression, she said she found the greatest support from interacting with other women in similar situations. Herrick became a certified peer specialist to demonstrate that recovery is possible. She now runs campaigns to raise awareness about maternal mental health.

Herrick said that her relationship with her husband strengthened after postpartum depression.

Cindy Herrick and her family in Arizona, 2012. (Courtesy of Cindy Herrick)

“We don’t love our kids any less because we’re struggling,” she said, “we really do care, but sometimes it’s just all too much, and it’s messy, not always pretty, and that’s okay.”

She said a mother is the core of society; if the family is healthy, she continued, so will the children.

The taskforce language of the omnibus bill was part of the Triumph for New Moms Act introduces in the House and Senate during the 2021-22 session.

Senators Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and House Representatives Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-Calif.), Larry Bucshon (R-Ind.), Young Kim (R-Calif.) and Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) signed on as sponsors of the Triumph for New Moms Act. The bill called for the establishment of a national strategy to address maternal mental health disorders and integrate maternal mental health into federal activities, a press release from 2020 Mom organization reads.

The Epoch Times contacted Hassan, Tillis, Barragán, Kim, and Rochester for comment.